Moving up: Executive search agency expanding inline with Malaysian economy

Monroe Consulting Group Malaysia has moved into new offices to accommodate the growth of its executive recruitment business and the need to hire new headhunters.

Ross Mckenzie, managing director of the Kuala Lumpur-based executive search company, said the move had caused minimal disruption to its business.

“The new premises are conveniently in the same building, Q Sentral, and we have taken over an office already fitted out to our design needs so we had the opportunity to make a relatively low-cost move, with minimal disruption to office operations.”

Mr McKenzie said the company had outgrown its previous office space.

“And with the new space being 50 percent larger we will be able to hire more staff in line with our growth plans for the next two to three years.”

He said the recruitment industry in Malaysia was performing well, inline with the Malaysian economy with GDP predicted to rise 4.8 percent in 2020.

“The government is placing great emphasis on investment in various sectors, including, manufacturing (aerospace, medical devices, chemicals, machinery), Islamic finance, education, high-tech and the digital economy,” he said.

“Foreign direct investment and attracting Fortune 500 companies to Malaysia remains a high priority as does greater commitment to ASEAN.

Malaysia is hosting the APEC Summit 2020 and 2020 is also Visit Malaysia year.

“Improvement in infrastructure continues apace with extensive investment in road, rail, industrial and technology parks to improve the efficiency of doing business in Malaysia,” he said.

“Consumer spending has been given a boost with an increase in the minimum wage, tad incentive and a commitment to wage increases.”

Mr McKenzie said Monroe was able to support all these initiatives with its specialist divisions in Industrial, Health, Professional Services, Technology and Consumer Goods.

“We are relatively small compared to our nearest competitors, which enables us to focus on mid- to senior-level roles and provide high quality, dedicated service to mission-critical roles,” he said.

“We specialise in industry verticals giving clients the opportunity to have a single point of contact and they can also engage with us directly through our leading-edge recruitment database.

“We have an award-winning training programme to support the professional growth of our team and allow our consultants to truly specialise in their chosen industry sector.”

Mr McKenzie has extensive experience in executive recruitment, with a career spanning Singapore, the Philippines and two stints in Malaysia.

“Monroe focusses on emerging markets so having experience across the region in these markets is invaluable,” he said.

“Each market has its similarities but also significant differences and it is important to understand what these are in order to tailor the right recruitment service to clients and candidates.”

He said there had been major changes to executive search in Malaysia since 2014.

“The recruitment market is constantly evolving with advances in digital technology, hiring strategies such as RPO or the investment in talent-acquisition resources,” he said.

“Working with specialist recruitment agencies is still, however, a key component of our clients’ strategic growth plans and we are able to partner with our clients in long-term relationships to provide them with the specialist recruitment support they need.”